The Legislative Yuan yesterday afternoon issued a statement protesting China’s introduction of a new travel pass for Taiwanese, following a delay to Premier Mao Chi-kuo’s (毛治國) policy address due to Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) lawmakers occupying the legislative speaker’s podium in the morning.
The three TSU lawmakers occupied the podium and held up signs accusing China’s unilateral launch of the new smartcard-like “Taiwan compatriot travel document” (台胞證) as a unilateral change to the “status quo,” saying that cross-strait exchanges should be halted.
A cross-party negotiation was held, presided over by Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平), resulting in a joint statement requiring Mao to present a special report on the issue, alongside his policy report.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
“Also, based on the principle of reciprocal respect and equal footing, [we] demand that [Beijing] conduct sufficient communication and negotiation with [Taiwan] on issues concerning the rights of people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait in cross-strait exchanges. The executive branch should make sure that it [adheres to this directive] and protests to [China] in order to sternly express our stance and maintain the dignity of the nation’s sovereignty,” the statement said.
In Mao’s report on the new travel pass, the premier addressed China’s governance, saying that due to the special relationship between the two sides — in which “the two sides do not recognize each other’s sovereignty, but do not deny respective jurisdictions” — people traveling between China and Taiwan have been using special passes, rather than passports, for entry, “but the pass issued by our government has ‘Republic of China’ [ROC] with the national flag on it, and we also have strict measures overseeing the entry of Chinese.”
“The unilateral move by China will not change the current relationship between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait,” Mao said.
“The cross-strait relationship based on the ROC Constitution and the ‘status quo’ upheld by our policy and the popular support will definitely not be altered by any unilateral Chinese move,” he said.
Mao also reiterated that according to an analysis, the capacity of the microchip embedded in the card is small, with less than 0.1 megabytes of storage.
“And [the Chinese] have informed us that the card contains one-time programming, meaning that it cannot be rewritten,” Mao said.
“They also clarified on Monday, the day of the implementation, in response to our Mainland Affairs Council’s press release, that the card is no different than the paper pass in terms of function,” Mao added.
STAY AWAY: An official said people should avoid disturbing snakes, as most do not actively attack humans, but would react defensively if threatened Taitung County authorities yesterday urged the public to stay vigilant and avoid disturbing snakes in the wild, following five reported snakebite cases in the county so far this year. Taitung County Fire Department secretary Lin Chien-cheng (林建誠) said two of the cases were in Donghe Township (東河) and involved the Taiwan habus, one person was bit by a Chinese pit viper near the South Link Railway and the remaining two were caused by unidentified snakes. He advised residents near fields to be cautious of snakes hiding in shady indoor areas, especially when entering or leaving their homes at night. In case of a
A tropical disturbance off the southeastern coast of the Philippines might become the first typhoon of the western Pacific typhoon season, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The system lacks a visible center and how it would develop is only likely to become clear on Sunday or Monday, the CWA said, adding that it was not yet possible to forecast the potential typhoon's effect on Taiwan. The American Meteorological Society defines a tropical disturbance as a system made up of showers and thunderstorms that lasts for at least 24 hours and does not have closed wind circulation.
ENERGY RESILIENCE: Although Alaska is open for investments, Taiwan is sourcing its gas from the Middle East, and the sea routes carry risks, Ho Cheng-hui said US government officials’ high-profile reception of a Taiwanese representative at the Alaska Sustainable Energy Conference indicated the emergence of an Indo-Pacific energy resilience alliance, an academic said. Presidential Office Secretary-General Pan Men-an (潘孟安) attended the conference in Alaska on Thursday last week at the invitation of the US government. Pan visited oil and gas facilities with senior US officials, including US Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, US Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy and US Senator Daniel Sullivan. Pan attending the conference on behalf of President William Lai (賴清德) shows a significant elevation in diplomatic representation,
Credit departments of farmers’ and fishers’ associations blocked a total of more than NT$180 million (US$6.01 million) from being lost to scams last year, National Police Agency (NPA) data showed. The Agricultural Finance Agency (AFA) said last week that staff of farmers’ and fishers’ associations’ credit departments are required to implement fraud prevention measures when they serve clients at the counter. They would ask clients about personal financial management activities whenever they suspect there might be a fraud situation, and would immediately report the incident to local authorities, which would send police officers to the site to help, it said. NPA data showed
RSS